Leviathan School of Aeronautics
by Jace Specter
Summary: the prestigious school of aeronautics in London, England, an all boys school that Deryn has applied to under the guise of Dylan sharp. once she arrives will her roommate find that there is more to her than meets the eye. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Leviathan School of Aeronautics Chapter 1

"DERYN, WAKE UP OR YOU'LL MISS YOUR FLIGHT", yelled Jaspert. I jolted awake, staring at the clock on my bedside table. 9:30, it read. _Crap!_ _My flight leaves at 11:00_. I bolted out of bed pulled on a pair of blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and a hoodie which read Leviathan School of Aeronautics, which is the reason why I'm flying to England. London to be exact. to attend the most prestigious flight school in all of Europe.

LSA is an all-boys flight school which produces the best pilots, yet this is also a problem seeing as I, Deryn Sharp, am a girl. Yet when I touch down in London I'll be Dylan Sharp cousin of Jaspert Sharp not his sister. I ran into the bathroom and rifled through the medicine cabinet and found what I was looking for, ace bandages. These were to bind my chest so that no one at the school would find out my secret by sight. I stuffed them into my already brimming suit case and ran down the stairs taking the steps two at a time and jumping down the last 4 onto the first floor landing. I ran into the kitchen dragging my suitcase behind me. Jaspert prepared a bowl of cereal and slid it my way; I dug in and scarfed it down quickly.

"Jeeze by the way you eat you'd think you were a guy already" he said chuckling

"Get stuffed, bum-rag!" I retorted quickly through a mouthful of food.

"The manners and mouth of one for sure" he trailed off. I rolled my eyes at him and picked up my bag and jogged to the car where my mom was waiting to drive me to Glasgow international airport. I threw my bag into the open trunk of the car and jumped into the front seat, I spared a glance at the clock in the car it read 10:13. _I'm really going to miss my flight now; ugh we better not hit any red lights._ The ride over was relatively fast, we hit 3 red lights and I cursed them all. We reached the airport around 10:36. I jogged through the front doors of the airport and into the security check. As I was going through my eyes kept darting to my watch and the minutes slowly ticking away, then the watch is off, going through the metal detector. I was through I picked up my suitcase and loaded my laptop back into it pulled my shoes on and started running again. I secured my watch back on my arm and it read 10:54. _Barking spiders this is going to be close._ I bolted through the crowds trying to make it to my gate when I heard over the loudspeakers

"Final boarding call for the 11:00 flight to London" I saw the gate and the doors about to close and I sprinted a time that the Olympics would be proud of and slammed my boarding pass onto the desk breathing hard I said

"I'm here; please tell me I can still get on"

"Calm down young man tell me your name and I'll see if I have a seat still open for you" the lady at the desk replied

"Der…Er Dylan Sharp"

"Well Dylan your lucky we have a couple available seats left, you'll be on your way shortly"

I marched down the ramp towards the plane doors; I stepped onto the plane and took an open window seat near the front. There was a beep as the stewardess came on the line and started to ramble through the safety guidelines and she finished with saying "Thank you for choosing to fly air Huxley and enjoy your flight."


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note** : Hello readers, I'll be updating periodically over the summer but I have a lot of writing to do and I have three chapters of this so far, so don't worry I will update but if there is a big space between them just know I'm working on other works and also have a job to do so this story might not be number one priority but if you people really like it and want it to continue I will for sure work more on it, Enjoy. Also I do not own Leviathan (Not sure if needed but ah well).

/Bing-bong/ "We have landed safely in London, we apologize for the spot of turbulence earlier, enjoy your stay in this wonderful city" the stewardess spouted cheerfully. _Little bit of turbulence, what an understatement! That storm almost brought the plane down_! I looked out of the plane's fogged up window at the wet runway drying in the mid-day sun. I got up and stretched my cramped muscles and stepped into the aisle, grabbing my bag out from the cabinet above my head. I started pushing my way to the front of the plane past all the business women and business men in their classy suits, the vacationers and returning students, At the front I disembarked and made my way up the ramp past the overly cheerful stewardess wishing me a good visit. Past the gate I walked through the massive atrium-like airport, light flooding through the massive glass windows. I walked out the main doors into the beginning of the fall season in London. _Oh good it's not too cold out my sweat shirt will do just fine, now where the hell are the taxis_? I saw one pulling up to the curb and hailed it, I jogged to the cab and opened the door and hopped in before a business man could weasel his way into it before me. I told the cab driver the address and I was on my way to Leviathan. The ride was rather uneventful except a few friendly questions that the cabbie asked like, "How old are you?", "Where I'm going to school?", "What will you be studying?", and "What year in high school are you?" To which I responded "15, LSA, I'll be studying Aeronautics, and I'm a freshman." We arrived at the school at quarter to 3. I grabbed my suitcase from the seat beside me and approached the campus which seemed to be teeming with life, that of the student variety and natural variety. I entered through the main doors, and walked down the schools hallway to the main office to get my dorm room number and key. As I walked I noticed a lot of students already here and many seeming already at home and hanging out in the little clicks that form the first day or from years of knowing one another. I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I didn't have time to bind my chest before I left Glasgow. _I hope the bagginess of the sweat shirt will compensate for what's there._ Not that I have much there to begin with it's just for assurance. I walked into the spotless office and asked the elderly yet strangely upbeat secretary what dorm I'd be in.

"What's your name?" she asked

"Dylan Sharp" I responded confidently

"You're in room 210 in the Goethe building, It's the tall brick building with the all the kites on top across the court yard and on the second floor."

I nodded and walked out of the office and down the spacious crowded hallways and into the courtyard. It was a small courtyard filled with small patches of flowers and a quaint fountain in the middle and a few benches here and there. There were a few students milling around and one or two just lying down and reading. _Maybe later I could come out here and sketch sometime, it seems peaceful enough._ But then a massive group of guys burst into the courtyard pushing and shoving each other while laughing at each other's stupid jokes. I rolled my eyes and walked across the court yard into the dorms the common room. As common rooms go this one was relatively large and roomy, plushy black and red sofas and arm chairs scattered all over. I made my way across the nicely carpeted floors to the stair well. The climb was rather steep up the concreted stairs, which were in stark contrast to the carpet of the commons. I made my way past the many rooms that lined either side of the hall and found room 210. It was located two doors away from the bathroom, _that's good; it'll be easier to get in and out before everyone else._ I turned the key and unlocked the door; I pushed the door open and walked in.

"Hello?" I said cautiously. The boy who seemed to be putting away his clothes whirled around his shortish red hair catching the sunlight streaming through the window, his green eyes giving me a quick once over. He gave me a smile and extended his hand saying

"Hello, my name is Alek I guess we'll be rooming together."


	3. Chapter 3: Roommates

**Authors Note:** Hello readers, I'm glad people are liking this and it'll take longer for chapter four because I need to write it and run it through my editing process which utterly tears it apart so I can rebuild it better. Thank you all for your support.

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"Hello, my name is Alek I guess we'll be rooming together."

"Umm, hi Alek, my name is Der…er Dylan Sharp and I guess we will be" I stared at his outstretched hand for a second and reached out and shook it. _Why'd I almost say Deryn, barking spiders that was close, guess I'm not as used to my new name as I thought._ He turned back to his dresser, continuing to unpack and said

"So where are you from? your accent doesn't sound British." I plopped my bag down on the bed and looked around the dorm room. It was small but in a cozy way, each side had a small desk that sat in the corner, a small freshly lacquered wooden waist high dresser at the foot of the beds. The beds seemed to be adjustable height wise and able to be shifted around. The beds were rather bare due to lack of sheets but they seemed better than she had expected. Sliding her suitcase down to the foot of the dresser and throwing her backpack onto her bed she replied,

"I'm from Scotland, Glasgow to be exact. How about you, your accent doesn't seem British either." He turned, seemingly done with stowing his clothes and walked nodding as she spoke. He stopped at his bed and began rummaging through his own bag and said,

"Interesting, I've heard Glasgow is a nice place, and right you are I'm from Vienna, Austria." He turned form his bag as he finished watching her reaction, and small smile had broken out across his lightly freckled face seeing the look of surprise plastered across her face.

"Austria?! Barking spiders, what drives someone to leave someplace as cultured and architecturally astounding as Vienna, and come to drab, dreary always rainy London?" Alek laughed at this his eyes crinkling slightly as his smirk he had on grew to a full out smile across his face. ' _Well he certainly is easy on the eyes'._ He responded still laughing,

"Well it's the same reason you're here, LSA is an amazing school and I've always been more of a mechanic than an art student or an architect that Austria seems to just make in mass production." I had started stowing clothes into my dresser as he was talking, leaving the bandages and my feminine care products hidden in my bag. I looked over to his bedside clock which read around five thirty. As I was about to respond with a quip about how good it must feel to run against the grain, both of our phones buzzed. Alek jumped and fumbled around with his pockets as I scooped mine off the bed. On the screen it read,

 _ **New freshmen remember to report to the lunch room next to the flight field for a welcome dinner and orientation by five forty-five.**_

Alek whirled around to look at his clock went for his shoes, I started laughing at his frantic movements

"Jeeze time certainly does fly, we better get down there, I'll lock up you go on ahead." He nodded and gave her a grateful look and walked out the door. ' _Well I'm glad me and Alek hit it off nicely, seems like he's my first new friend here'._ Alek leaned back in and knocked on the door frame shaking me from my thoughts.

"Just realized you're really the only person I know here so I think I'm just gonna head down with you if that's ok…" he said with a shy smile.

"Ok" I said laughing "On my way" I looked in the mirror that hung beside the door and saw my face was kind of red, confirming my suspicions. _Uh oh, I really did start blushing._

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 **Second author thingy: I'll have a quick orientation part in the next chapter but I'll skip through a few weeks, I'll have a few chapters per trimester (get it like the three books) but there will be some Dalek good stuff in trimester 2, sorry about the slow start to this fic I just want to test the water, also I am starting a young justice fic series soon so if you are into the spitfire pairing then make sure you check in in the next few weeks. Have a good day.**


	4. Chapter 4: Orientation, Part one

**Author's note: I'm burning the midnight oil cranking this out and playing S.O.B on repeat for motivation and it is fantastic. I hope you all like this chapter (I had way more of getting to orientation and the orientation than I had actually planned). I'm taking the story in a different direction than I had planned a year ago and I'm pumped up about it and I hope you will enjoy this (Longer) installment in LSA.**

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 **5:33**

I locked the door and fell in step beside Alek. We talked about travel and how smooth his flight was compared to Huxley air. Alek had flown Qantas air out of Austria the barking prince. We cleared the Goethe dorm building and were on our way to orientation when we realized we had no clue where the lunch room was, all we knew was the administrative and school building and our dorm.

Leviathan School for Aeronautics was set up more like a college campus, than a normal private school with a disconnect between the dorms and the school. There were the Darwin dorms, the Goethe dorms, the gym class training rooms, and the hanger, which connected to the lunch room. The hanger was where they stored, and tested, airborne contraptions. While the lunch rooms were connected to the hanger, the cafeteria part of that was more like its own barking building. A completely energy efficient building, with an old feel to it. Which described the school itself pretty well.

Yet since we had only read of the energy efficient cafeteria, we didn't have a good layout to navigate to the place orientation was. Seeing as they were late, no one was in the halls of the administration building as they sprinted through. Alek slid to a stop palm on his forehead, breathing hard and laughing,

"You realize that half the people in this building are the staff," he then backed into the nearest classroom, face plastered with a goofy, clart eating grin, until the point he just bumped into the door instead of opening it. He turned and fumbled with the handle, then walked into the classroom, the tips of his ears a flaming red. ' _Practically minded, but not so much as, suave or coordinated'_ I thought as I leaned against the wall, clutching my stomach while almost suffocating at Alek's bumbling. The room looked to be a biology classroom. Pulling my phone out of my back pocket and flicking the power button, I read the time: **5:39.**

I started towards the door just as Alek came walking out, face still a light crimson, being tailed by a teacher with brown curls and, in my opinion, a tacky bowler hat partnered with what looked like a custom dress, specifically made to make the bowler hat look like it had a place in modern society. "Dylan, this is Dr. Barlow. She's the biology teacher and knows the way," he said this, still a bit sheepish from his mix up.

"Barking fantastic! There only 5 minutes 'till it starts. Let's hope it's a short walk."

The doctor gave her a smile and said with an air of snobbishness, "It won't start until I'm present, so no need for the language, Dylan, is it?" I was a bit taken aback by the forwardness of the comment for a reason beyond her other than the tone. Before a school appropriate response from student to teacher could be formulated, Dr. Barlow was already walking past her and Alek.

He gave my shoulder a slight push and whispered to me, "Who is the flustered one now?" I pushed him away with an angry huff and tried to slug his shoulder as he shimmied out of the way.

"Now children, no need to fight," she chided with her back turned to them. "What are you two going to study at Leviathan?" Alek and I had gone to respond at the same time, interrupting each other with our attempts to speak, and tell the other to go before them. Dr. Barlow sighed as they turned a corner out into the main lobby of the school portion of the administrative offices. "Let us make this simpler, shall we? Dylan what are you going to study?" I straighten myself up as I told her,

"I am studying Aeronautics and biology, along with my side classes of math and English and a language," I let the pride I felt seep into my voice. I had tricked my way into this school and was able to reap the benefits of a fantastic education right under the school board's restrictive noses. The Doctor turned slightly to Alek.

"For me it's mostly the same, except instead of aeronautics I have mechanics, or well aeronautic mechanics, which is just a fancy title."

Dr. Barlow nodded, we had walked out into another courtyard, leading to the Darwin dorm rooms, but what we saw to the left took our breath away. A large building with massive windows which looked to be the special argon kind, sided by red and orange brick, had BIPV's (Solar panel shingles). From the looks of it, it was multi floored, with the cafeteria on the bottom and seating arrangements on the second floor where windows faced the large dirt and concrete runway stretching out from the hanger behind it. The grandeur of it astounded me, Alek looked a bit underwhelmed but still impressed. When she googled it, the pictures hadn't rendered, so she had decided to wait. Dr. Barlow, leading them on, started talking about the building and how it's run by one hundred percent green energy. The whole spiel, about how the special shingles are small and inconspicuous and ahead of the times and how the argon gas in the windows keeps air from seeping out and increasing energy efficiency and how it's like a living breathing organism, but she seemed to allude to something else,

"Well, you two are certainly a nice set to team up with the skill you have." I looked over to Alek and mouthed to him ' _Team up?'._ He shrugged his shoulders but asked her,

"I'm sorry did you say team up?"

"Oh did I?" she said turning slightly to wink at me, "I must have been getting carried away." We had crossed the field and entered into the cool, air conditioned bliss of the lunch room. A plaque on the wall, flanked on either side by two double doors leading into the serving area, was called the Nikola hall. Based off of the Tesla family who must have donated a large sum to get this building named after them, as well as, to pay for the building itself. "Many of our students call the building the Goliath, but that's mainly the seniors. Anyway, up you go. The orientation will start once I have all the notes together, so go on and I hope to see you both in my class ready to be educated." We both nodded and ran up the stairs, ' _Well she is obviously a strange one, but what is this about teaming up?'_

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 **Side Note: I was told that I should let people know that Alek is gonna be a bit more OC in this story.**


	5. Chapter 5: Orientation, Part two

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, summer school is over and I have free time now with a few days without work, and I will have time to write because I'll have no connection to Wi-Fi so all I will have to do is write so I will have a stockpile of chapters. Sounds like a good deal, writing may take me a bit longer cause the next few chapters and the ones following it will have to cover more content to get from orientation till the end of trimester one. I'll try to update every few weeks or so. Hope you all are still reading and enjoying.**

Orientation was a simple affair. Alek and I made our way up the stairs, leaving Dr. Barlow on the first floor. The dining area of the cafeteria was larger than the common room in the dorm, with tile floors so polished and starched, that if the light caught it a certain way, you would be blinded. There were uniform, four by seven rows of circular tables, flanked by three rows of commonplace rectangular lunch tables. The view out of the windows was spectacular, a beautiful view of the sun as it was beginning its descent over the flat stretch of grass and dirt that made up the runway extending from the hanger.

The first three rows of circular tables were where the new students were being seated. We sat at the closest table to the back, so we wouldn't illustrate how late we actually were clocking in at about five to six minutes late. As Dr. Barlow said with her absence it didn't seem to be starting. I leaned over to Alek and whispered,

"With all the money they put into the rest of campus, why do you think they don't have a fully paved runway, and just some barking field that looks a little worse for wear?"

He seemed to think for a minute and just shrugged and simply said, "It's rustic," but he followed that up with "maybe it's cheaper to maintain than concrete or blacktop." I shrugged and we continued on this speculative topic until the time for the presentation to start.

At six o'clock a screen was pulled down from the ceiling in front of the assembled students, and a projector was wheeled out as Dr. Barlow made her way through the empty tables and came to a stop before the students. The projector whirred to life as the school's sigil appeared on the screen: a shield with one peak in the middle and the two edged ones leading down to a point at the bottom. The sigils inside was a take on the Ouroboros, with a whale with a part of a gear in its mouth and looping down to where it is in place of its tail. Underneath this strange and unique show of heraldry were the words, Leviathan School of Aeronautics.

Dr. Barlow introduced herself as a Nora Barlow, Teacher of biology and the head of the science department at LSA. She bid us all welcome and started a slide show, describing to us how classes work and the two different tracks the school offers.

"As most of you know not all of you are taking aeronautics and not all of you are taking mechanics, that is your choice and in your paper work specified which you chose to be in, this is one of the only main differences," she flipped past the slide she was on and into the next one outlining what the courses entailed, "Mechanics students their classes will report to the main hanger to receive instruction from our mechanic's teacher Otto Klopp. While Aeronautics students will be in an instruction room off of the main hanger under the instruction of Captain Hobbes." She began droning on about their credentials and how long they've been here and how experienced they are. Alek started whispering,

"Have fun being stuck in a classroom learning how to do flips and what not, while I get to do hands on." I rolled my eyes and punched him in the shoulder the smile on my face showing that I meant it good naturedly and whispered back,

"We don't even know what we're gonna be doing, clart for brains, it'll probably be lectures galore, so the people who have a basic knowledge or next to none can catch up." He shrugged pushed back his brownish red hair into tousled mess but it worked for him. I turned back to the presentation and Dr. Barlow had switched slides and had moved past basic math and English classes, the sciences, of which science was the student's choice and would be determined on day one, the same case along with language classes.

"The languages this school has to offer is, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Latin. For those taking biology, Latin would certainly help you." I snorted a bit at this and said to Alek,

"She's pushing biology so hard it kinda makes me want to not take it," Alek just let out a quiet 'Pfft' sound and said,

"Nuh Uh, I'd prefer to have someone I know in my class and not just a bunch of random people." I put my hand over my heart and responded sarcastically,

"Aw Alek I'm touched; I didn't know you cared so much." He just rolled his eyes and reached behind my chair and flipped my hoodies hood over my head.

"Shut up Dylan."

I pulled my hoodie down and stuck my tongue out at him and fixed my hair moving it to the side so it flowed along the top to the side of my head over my undercut.

The Doctor was about to start on dorm rooms, curfews and the campus utilities when there were the sounds of rapid footsteps coming up the stairs into the room orientation was taking place, Dr. Barlow stopped as a lanky boy about my height rushed in, flustered, and even more so when he realized everyone was looking at him, he power walked the rest of the to the table next to ours and I could see that he wished this experience to be done but his wish was not going to be granted.

"Were the instructions not clear upon the time that orientation would start, mister….?" Dr. Barlow inquired mockingly. The boy looked up and started stammering. "I…... uh… um... I got here late ma'am and I uh…. Lost track of time…." He trailed off before he realized she asked for his name, "OH…. My name is... uh Eugene... Eugene Newkirk." Doctor Barlow raised an eyebrow,

"Well, Mister Newkirk, please ask one of your fellow classmates to find out what you missed, afterwards if you please." She added after Newkirk started to look around to people to ask. The rest of orientation passed like a breeze.

The dorm rooms are equipped with showers as opposed to the large communal showers like most other private boarding schools. _This makes hiding my secret way easier, how did I miss this before._ I looked over at Alek questioningly,

"You didn't notice that? I guess it just looks like a closet door next to the dresser at the base of my bed" I nodded as Barlow was talking about curfew that extended from 11:00 at night to 5:30 in the morning. Breakfast started at eight o'clock, classes at nine o'clock, lunch at twelve and then classes should end by three thirty and dinner is from five o'clock until six. She added as an afterthought that dinner would be served to us after orientation. seeing as the new students were the first ones here while the older students arrive tomorrow it made sense that it wasn't from five till six tonight.

The doctor went on to mention the gym facility and that it is open to students to use at their own leisure. She gave the whole spiel about drugs and alcohol on premise. Finally she closed with discussing student teacher work opportunities and the final project, where certain students could work under a teacher for a few hours a day and if the teacher so chooses could earn a measly salary, almost all teachers have this work opportunity. She also told us about the final project for LSA.

"During your first trimester here you will be expected to pick a partner, someone you can work well with by the time the second trimester rolls around, when that is done you will receive the rest of your project." She turned off the projector and someone came to wheel it out, "Now everyone can report down to the café lines to get dinner, goodnight."

Everyone all got up and stretched and Alek said to me over the din of the crowd of students,

"Well I guess that's what she meant by teaming up"

"I guess so" I said shrugging my shoulders. As me and Alek were beginning to head down to the lines I felt a tap on my back and turned around to see that Newkirk kid.

"Um hi I was wondering if you could spare some time to tell me what I missed?" he looked like a lost puppy and I nodded and held out my hand,

"Sure thing, the name's Dylan." He reached out and shook it and replied with his. He looked to Alek and did the same. We started to make our way to the lines, filling him in on what we paid attention to ourselves.

 **Author's Note: I'm bad at describing hair but I have two links on what the twos hairstyles kinda look like, also if you have any requests on certain things to happen to the pair in the story let me know I'm always open to suggestion. Aleks hair:** **post/21087735006** **Deryns hair:** **post/58584936699** **, Thanks again for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6: The First Day

**Authors Note: Well I'm back now, I've been out of commission longer than I meant, this will be the first day of school for Alek and Deryn, with being back I will try and update regularly but I am working more so there might be a conflict. The beginnings of this chapter is mainly just setting up classes so it may be tedious but near the end of the school day it gets better. Thank you all so so so much for sticking with this it means a lot and the more like positive reviews the more I know you like it and it keeps me writing tbh. If you have any requests for small snippets of Dalek stuff for later on or anything you want to see or see in this story just let me know, again thank you and enjoy.**

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 **BEEP… BEEP... *SLAM***

I pulled my hand back away from my now silent alarm clock, which read seven. I started to try and rub the sleep from my eyes though it never works, I pushed the blankets off of me with my feet and sat up. It's only been two days, but waking up in the dorm was still weird. It felt a bit cramped, not because I was sharing space, our room was well divided with enough space for our stuff, it was just a smaller room than I was used to, and much more tidy.

I slid my feet off the bed and onto the cold tiled floor and padded my way to the dresser at the foot of the bed. I was rooting through my clothes trying for something nice but not too over the top. As I was digging around for an outfit, I looked over at the other bed occupying the room. My roommate, Alek, was sprawled out on his bed. He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday; a khaki pair of shorts and a plain red t-shirt. His reddish hair, normally a cute and tidy but mussed up look, was now a crazy bit of bed head. Most of the top part of his hair had slumped down past his forehead onto his face.

He started to shift around a bit as if to sense my staring. I could feel myself start to blush as I pulled out the cloths I had left forgotten in that moment. I took my clothes, a pair of grey slim fit pants, purple LSA polo shirt and a pair of low top black converse, and put them in the bathroom off of our dorm. I exited the bathroom once more and picked up Aleks sheets that had pooled off the side of his bed, I balled them up and threw them at his head. He jolted up sending his book flying to the foot of his bed, he seemed flustered with his hair all over the place.

"Time to wake up sleepy head, breakfast starts at eight." I said laughing, Alek in response to this just grumbled something and flopped back onto the bed. I closed the bathroom door pretty loud and heard him yell from his bed

"Alright! I'm up!" The barking prince wasn't used to the simple one-hour time change. I turned on the shower and stepped in. _Today's the day! First day of school here we come, luckily I'll have Alek in most of my classes_. Alek and I had hit it off the past few days at Leviathan, we talked about music and videogames and books, Alek was into old books about world war one while I was more interested in books on biology. Our one most common topic of conversation was about the major project alluded to by Dr. Barlow. Our speculation went from genetically modified creations onto a real life flight with full crew of students manning a bomber of some sort for the RAF. Obviously none of the above but it was fun. I leaned out of the shower and checked my phone **7:30**. I shut off the water and hopped out, drying off my hair and getting ready for the day, I styled my hair, only really having to worry about the top with my undercut. I combed it back with my fingers, and once that was done, I set about binding my chest. I unrolled the ace bandages and got to work, it hurt during the day I just didn't have the resources to get an actual binder, which would have helped. Once I was dressed I stepped out and saw Alek waiting patiently to go in, once I stepped aside he barreled past me.

At seven fifty Alek re-entered the dorm from the bathroom wearing a simple grey V-neck shirt and a pair of maroon pants that went well with it, his hair was a far cry from the mess it was earlier, close cropped sides an inch longer than mine, the rest swept back from his forehead in soft waves that are longer than the rest, his green eyes and smattering of freckles completing a look that could only be described as a messy handsome, but in a way that was purposeful. I averted my eyes to avoid looking at his small smirk that he seemed to always have on. We both grabbed our lanyards with our school IDs, phones, and bags with our laptops and notebooks for class, then headed down to the common area to meet up with Newkirk.

Newkirk was an interesting fellow, he is from Britain and is taking the aeronautics program, the rest of him can be defined in a few words like, awkward, weird but funny, he seemed to be a bit skeptical of Alek because he was what the aeronautic kids called a "clanker" an engineer. Alek seemed to take it in stride saying it was pretty cool.

As we walked to the lunch building, we made small talk and talked about the schedules for the first day of school. Newkirk and I both had maths at nine o'clock, and from two o'clock until three fifteen we have aeronautics together. While on the other hand Alek and I had our language, biology and gym classes together. There was talk of special uniforms which had gotten a lot of the first years in a tizzy as we entered the Nikola dining hall. It was a goliath of a building but the new amounts of people demonstrated the size, with the second and third years now back and ready for the new year, the building had no lack for space, whether it be food lines or seating. We entered the line with Newkirk, who was seemingly still overwhelmed by the massive choices for food. The school supplies many food options for the many international students which, to people like Newkirk who grew up in London proper, can be a bit much. I myself grew up with haggis, which comes with being a Scotsman, and Alek grew up with whatever posh junk you eat in Austria. Needless to say breakfast went off without a hitch.

* * *

Around eight forty-five we left the dining hall. Newkirk was ranting and raving about the vegan pancakes and how he's only going to eat them. I shared a look with Alek which said ' _It's going to be a different food every day'_ , he seemed to understand with a nod in confirmation. The campus was teeming with students ready to get back into the swing of things; students milling about in the courtyard, outside the administrative school building, walking through the halls, and across the campus like blood through the veins of a giant beastie. The school had an atmosphere that felt alive, with the sun beating down, and the slight breeze mixed with the voices of kids who were relishing seeing their friends, it felt like a community where I could belong, albeit as a double agent of the opposite sex.

We made our way into the school building. Weaving through the throngs of people horsing around. Newkirk and I had math class on the second floor while Alek's math class was on the first. We parted ways at the main staircase going up.

"Good luck, Alek!" He looked up with a smile on his face and saluted me and Newkirk,

"I'm gonna need it." And with that he walked to his class. Newkirk and I continued up the stairs to our classroom.

* * *

Math is alright and only interesting in some cases, but very rarely. Mainly it depends on the teacher, ours was one who put us to work on the first day. We sat down in the lecture hall type classroom, Newkirk and I next to each other, He gave us our textbooks, and told us to open them to chapter one and we would start working. No day-one introduction games like in my first two years of high school. As soon as the instruction came I immediately groaned and leaned over to Newkirk,

"It's the first day and we're being told to learn!" He looked at me quizzically, he was still a bit awkward just because it's who he is, but after the call out he took from Barlow, he was hesitant to talk while a teacher was talking, but he relented.

"Dylan it is called school for a reason, like we're meant to learn," I scoffed and gave him an astounded look.

"Not you too? I mean first Alek and now you? What's wrong with you guys it's supposed to be fun and all about flying, not numbers and clart." Newkirk had gone still looking towards the front of the class where the teacher was looking straight at us. He cleared his throat and asked,

"Well, Mister...?"

"Sharp, sir, Dylan Sharp."

" Mister Sharp, open your textbook and stop with the disruptions, or we'll have some problems." He was quiet but his threat was well delivered, I gulped and settled down, _this is going to be a long class period._

* * *

Newkirk and I left the class at nine fifty-seven, the bell for the school was like an air raid claxon but one that had relief and not impending doom. We had been assigned piles of homework, while from my texts with Alek it seemed that he had day one activities which were, according to him, "grueling." When I had seen that text I started to grumble about showing him something grueling but Newkirk shouldering me slightly helped, avoid getting in trouble again. Newkirk went back upstairs to the third floor to biology while I headed downstairs to meet up with Alek. He was waiting outside his classroom fixing his hair which looked fine to me, _guys and their hair_ I thought to myself as I approached. He looked at me and grinned his clart eating grin asking,

"How was math?" I socked him in the shoulder, his grin getting me to smile but I pretended to be mad. He smiled again and rubbed his shoulder and listened to my rant as we entered the classroom.

It was a lecture hall type area like the math room, except instead of what teachers think are clever posters of puns and jokes (you all know what I'm talking about) were flags of various countries, with posters next to them of the country they stood for. We were told to take our seats and wait for the bell, we only had three-minute passing periods which was a load of clart but it apparently helps with time management.

As the bell rang, five teachers filed into the room, each holding a flag of a certain country, then a sixth person entered, he introduced himself as the director of the language department. He went on about how he expected the best from us in our language we choose. The teachers introduced themselves one by one and went over what language they teach. The list is of, French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Latin.

"Which language are you gonna take?" Alek asked me as they were talking. I shrugged my shoulders and said to him,

"Whichever seems easier." He smiled at that and thought for a few minutes before I asked him what he wanted to take. He replied almost instantly.

"German, I mean I'm already fluent." I was stunned silent for a bit,

"You speak three languages?"

" What do you mean by three?"

"Well, you know, Austrian, German and English?" When I asked the question he just nodded his head in understanding.

"I get the confusion now, no I only speak six, Hungarian, Latin, Italian, French, and German and Austrian are essentially the same languages." I simply nodded feeling a bit lost at this new information. I was stunned _Only six?! Of course he does the barking prince_ but an idea started forming.

"So being fluent, would it be easy to help a certain friend with their homework if they chose German?" He looked a bit confused but still agreed with a yes. I held out my hand with a clever grin spread across my face,

"Then I guess we'll be in business then Mister Hohenberg." He realized what I was talking about and shook my hand,

"I guess me are Mister Sharp, I guess we are."

When the time came, Alek and I selected German and went off to the class to get our textbook codes to be used digitally on our laptops, and to get our work packets, needless to say, this class had first day introduction games.

* * *

The period ended and we got our homework assignments, which was to just read the introductions to the textbook and be ready to start learning German, simple enough. We saw Newkirk sulking his way towards his next class which was English with Mr. Malone, He opted out of a language to take the class. When Alek raised a questioning eyebrow, Newkirk simply responded,

"She remembered me." He looked down trodden so I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked up at me, gave me an awkward smile, and walked off down the hall. I turned back to Alek and we continued walking.

"So Alek, are there any, like, German words that transfer into English weirdly?" His eyes seemed to light up at the question, like he'd always wanted to have the conversation.

"Well, let's see, there's Innerer Schweinehund, Treppenwitz, Zungenbrecher, und Backpfeifengesicht." My face scrunched up as the words continued they were like tongue twisters but an actual language.

"What do they mean?" He was about to say something but stopped himself and instead said,

"wo ist der Spaß, dass." He walked into the biology classroom and left me in the dust, trying to figure out the German that was just thrown at me. _The barking Prince_

I stepped into the class to see it was very different from the other classes, in the way that the seating was. Lab tables of two or three, the walls were full of cubby's and cages full of lizards, spiders, fish, turtles, almost every small animal known to man. At the desk in the front of the room was Dr. Nora Barlow, in a business suit with her boffin bowler hat on.

Me and Alek sat down at the same lab table. Alek was looking at the lizards strangely, as if they were going to start talking. A voice came from behind Alek and I,

" That is a _Chamaeleo calyptratus,"_ she looked at Alek's adorably confused face and said "A chameleon." Realization hit Alek as he started to nod. She turned to me and said, "Well it seems you two have stuck together, have either of you thought of a future in biology?" In response Alek simply shrugged while I nodded, biology was cool and I had read an article about Dr. Barlow I was just starting to remember, she worked on CRISPR, a genome editing device and was working towards grants to use it for animals, it was quite fascinating. Barlow nodded in approval.

"You two should come after school and sign up for the student-teacher work opportunity." I again nodded and thanked her for the request and as did Alek but a bit shakily. She looked like she was about to say more but the claxon rang and Dr. Barlow turned and launched into her introduction to the class and all we'd be learning this year and how we can relate it to real life. For me finding subjects in school fun was rare but biology and genetics were something I could get behind. Although Alek seemed to be stumbling in trying to catch the words like me hearing his German. He looked over to see if I understood what she was saying about her work in genetics and all these big words about splicing and things like that.

"Are you getting this?" he asked quietly, I nodded simply, still listening to the Doctor, he shrugged and was about to go back to listening before I responded,

"Are you having a tough time?"

"Yea it's just I don't get science; I like to be more hands on with machines than typing data points." I thought about this for a minute, he did seem to be more a worker with his hands, he mentioned he used to work on engines and cars in Austria and mechanic stuff, it just never occurred to her that the science wouldn't just click to him. I reached out and patted him on the back as we both settled in for the rest of Dr. Barlow's introductions.

* * *

 **1:00**

After lunch was the second to last class of the day, gym. Lunch wasn't very eventful just trading stories of what happened and ranting. Near the end of biology, a rather large ferret got out from its cage and had started to run around and some guys hopped up onto their lab tables yelling in high pitched voices about rats. It was comical and Dr. Barlow had calmly collected the ferret and put it away explaining that its erratic behavior came from the fact that it had been a test subject from crispr so its genetics were in flux. Otherwise the class went by uneventful, but me and Alek had a back and forth about whether to actually accept the work opportunity. We had decided to just look into it and decide from there even though Barlow seemed to have her answer already.

This period was the longest by far. Alek and I sat in the front rows of the bleachers and when the claxon rang to signal classes had started the gym teachers wasted no time in calling out names alphabetically to get gym uniforms and locks for the locker room. Alek left first being near the beginning of the alphabet got pulled away and put in a group of rowdy guys who were faffing about. He disappeared down through the door to the left of the bleachers. By the time my name was called all I wanted to do was go to next period, aeronautics were so close I could feel it like a physical presence. I grabbed a uniform in medium even though I was a bit more of a slimmer build to help hide the hopefully not obvious wrap job I had under my shirt. I went through the door Alek had earlier and went down a set of stairs into the locker rooms. My mind went into overdrive; _I have to change here! No privacy no nothing!_ The locker room was a wide space set up into gridded sections by locker number, I went to my number and found I was near the back along the side of the room. _All I need to do is wear a tank top underneath that's all_ , I tried to control my racing mind, I hadn't thought of this possibility, it was a flaw maybe a fatal one. I put away my clothes and looked around for Alek hoping to see some face I recognized in the sea of boys rough housing and joking around. I walked up the stairs and ran into one of the waiting teachers. He had me introduce myself and told me we needed seven more people till he walked us through the gym's facilities. As guys slowly filed out we started the tour.

To say this place was state of the art, wasn't giving it enough credit, multi floored work out spaces, a climbing walls complete with airship riggings on one side, two indoor tracks one above the other on separate floors, a lap pool with twelve lanes, two basketball courts, fully equipped workout rooms and on top of all of that, fencing areas, _I doubt I'll ever see those in use_. I was thoroughly overwhelmed by all of this. I learned that these areas were for use for students once curfew ends and anytime not when classes are running. We finished back where we started and the teachers who were left were handing out marked parcels with either an A or an M on them. I could feel excitement growing in my chest, apparently we would be getting special uniforms due to our class choice. As I approached the line I tried to see Alek over the sea of heads but he I doubted I'd be able to find him due to his height, he wasn't necessarily short, but he wasn't tall either, he was around five nine, while I am five eleven. When I got to the front of the line I got my bag and walked out of the crowd. That's when I saw Alek, he was still stuck in the group of rowdy guys except they had his package and were throwing it above their heads as he was trying to get it back. One of them looked about six feet tall with a buzz cut, not built very well kind of stubby in a way. Nice clothing but complete with ratty combat boots. _Ah he's one of those people, who think they're a rebel because their mean and own a pair of boots_. I could feel a bit of anger swell in my chest as I made my way over. Alek had made a successful grab for it and the buzz cut kid had him by his ears, his hair was messed up and he looked distraught. I could hear one of his cronies call out,

" Come on Fitz, Quit playing with the shorty." I could see Alek gulp visibly. As this kid Fitz made a grab for his package, I intervened, pushing him away, or at least trying to, he was barking heavy. He stumbled back a bit, looking a bit stunned. Alek whose face was red, with embarrassment anger or a mix of the two stepped up to my side.

"Looky here boys, look like shorty's got his boyfriend to help him out!" they all sneered and laughed their stupid laughs.

"I'm sticking up for a friend clart, for brains, it's what friends do, I doubt if you weren't there to scare them they wouldn't be following you around." I shot back heatedly. He looked stunned and I could see Alek had a triumphant smile on his face.

"Do you know who I AM?! How dare you talk to me like that, my name is Robert Fitzroy," His face had gone purple with anger "My father is the captain of the British navy!" I realized that with him there was no gaining ground so I did what my brother Jaspert and my Da, taught me to do, or well more so my da. I scoffed and shrugged my shoulders in an 'so what' manner and turned and walked away. Alek following close behind, I could hear him yelling obscenities from across the bleachers as Alek and I sat down to look at the parcels we got.

"Thanks, Dylan." It was said so quietly I barely heard it over the din of the crowd. I looked over at him and he had a look of gratitude on his face with a small shy smile. Turning my head back to my package to hide the small blush that was growing I responded,

"It's what friends are for Alek, if they ever bother you again I'll help you rough em up." At that he laughed possibly imagining us in a fight,

"I doubt I'd be much use but I'd give it my all." At this I smiled and held up the package,

"Shall we?"

Inside of mine was a brown leather pilots jacket, with a collar of sheep's wool, it had a bunch of pockets that I could already see the uses for, it was much like my fathers, with the same heraldry patch on the shoulder where the chevrons would go above, I lifted up the jacket and underneath was another thing of leather with goggles over it, a flight cap, If I could see the way I looked it'd probably be a look of total joy. I looked over at Alek's package and he pulled out a light blue mechanic's jumpsuit but, it seemed more stylish, with a padded doublet area inside of the jumpsuit, stitched in a shade of brown that surprisingly worked well with the color of blue. The knees were padded as well which seemed to have Alek excited.

"Well no more scraped knees from kneeling, that'll be for sure, do you like your outfit?" All I could think to do was nod.

The Klaxon rang and all the students who were first years started along their way to the hanger for their first classes in aeronautics and mechanics. On the way over Alek went about attempting to fix his hair. I had to follow the flow of soon to be pilots and I left him with the other mechanic's students and the teacher Otto Klopp.

The classroom was in the way back of the hanger, it was a bit cramped and I tried to keep my distance from Fitzroy who was trying to be a pilot as well. Captain Hobbes entered last and had us stand at attention, giving the normal first day speech about before we could become pilots we were to be called midshipmen, and he handed out textbooks, The Manual of Aeronautics, by S. Wetserfeld. Then he told us about the big project.

"As students at Leviathan school of aeronautics you will be responsible for showing your prowess in teamwork, navigation, and flight, as you know you have been told to find teammates, the explanation to that is that you will eventually with your teammate or members, Build and fly a small aircraft," The class started to buzz with excited whispers until the Captain cleared his throat and began speaking again, "What you will learn and your partners in the mechanics program will be enough to support this project. By the end of this trimester, you will have to have submitted your team members, by the end of second trimester you must have a design, and by the end of the year you must have a working prototype, we aren't asking you to build 747s, just something small like the wright brothers or an air balloon with capabilities to work like an airship." He continued on about what is to be expected of us and what we are to learn in this class. After an hour we still had fifteen minutes left with all the information covered and so he dismissed us to go out into the hanger.

Outside the teacher had the students assembling parts of some kind of motor in the afternoon sun, I could hear him telling some kids to stop complaining and that this is just to test preexisting knowledge. I walked over to where Alek was and I could feel my heart beat a bit quicker, he had changed into his jumpsuit, but due to the heat he had it unzipped, and tied around his waist, a white tank top covered his chest, He was skinny but in a way that he had a lot of lean muscle, he was facing away from me and as he shifted his arms assembling parts I could see the way his muscles tightened underneath his tank. I was thankful for the heat so I could blame my flushed face on that. By the time I made it to him he had sat down apparently finished, he pushed a pair of engineers goggles onto his forehead pushing back his reddish brown hair which shown in the sunlight of the afternoon. I came to a stop and tried to form a question without stuttering like a flustered lass, cause Deryn Sharp does not get flustered because of boys.

"So… I um uh, I mean, how's the mechanics going?" _Smooth you clart head,_ I averted my eyes from his adorably confused smile,

"It's been fun, I spent a lot of time working on mechanics in Austria so it's been a piece of cake, how about you, you okay? You seem a bit flustered." I wished my red face would just fade away and I could act suave and pretend that Alek wasn't getting to me.

"Never better."


	7. Chapter 7: An average day

**Author's note: Hello everyone, this chapter was a pretty fun one to write, I hope you all enjoy it! Also just a side note, the past few chapters have been occurring within days of each other, this chapter is about one-half the way through the first trimester in mid Septemberer. Any questions just msg me. Enjoy.**

My wake up this morning was nicer than it was most mornings. Normally an alarm blares and shows that it's a horrible time in the morning. This Saturday morning, I was awoken by a pillow being thrown from across the room. I opened my eyes and looked to see Alek standing there by the base of his bed, with his clart eating grin, and pointing at the clock. I turned to see that it read **6:15.** My eyes widened. I flung myself out of bed.

"It can't be! I set my alarm!" His smile only grew.

"And it was your alarm that woke me up on your day to get up first." I was at my dresser at this point getting my clothes for working out. We had started going in the mornings before classes, it was there and we thought it might be useful. _Alek wanted to also try and get a one up on that clart face Fitzroy._ I quickly changed in the bathroom, grabbing an extra towel and shoving on a tank top, and a baggy shirt with a pair of gym shorts. I walked out and Alek had also changed, a pair of blue gym shorts and a plain gray T-shirt. His reddish brown hair was mussed up, and pushed back, it only added to the- _Nope, do not continue that, it's not going to happen. Focus._ I crossed the dorm and grabbed my phone and room key. We were about to exit when I heard Alek behind me.

"Ahem, you know the rule." I groaned and went back to my desk. I took a dollar from the surface and put them in the tin coffee pot on Alek's dresser. He had found it while in mechanic's class and brought it with him back to the dorm with an idea. Because I was always sleeping through my alarm, he said for incentive I'd put money and he would as well every time one of them slept on one of their days to wake the other up. We still had no clue what to do with it at the end of the year but that'll be a problem for another day. So far he was winning, I was losing by three days while he only had one day where he missed his alarm.

Alek was smirking again, I pushed past him as we exited the dorm and started on our way to the Gym building.

Normally when we got there we would work on the machines for thirty minutes, run three times around the indoor track and make our way to the pool. At first, I was adamant, I had my wrappings on but I couldn't go shirtless. Luckily some of the other kids there had shirts on to give more 'drag' for training, _probably a load of clart but it works as an excuse_. For the rest of the time until seven twenty-five we would swim, talk for a bit in between strokes, and even in the past few weeks, I have noticed a change. I had a bit more lean muscle and I was getting more definition on my biceps, Alek on the other hand with amount of motivation he had was training way harder and it showed, he was still slim but his lean muscle had started filling out more, with more definition, on his arms and back, which he showed off alot in mechanics, I constantly found myself trying to get myself to focus on other things. _I'm not going to go down this road, I can't let a silly crush blow my cover_. That's how it went these past few weeks, and today was no different.

We finished in the pool and made it back to the locker room to get our clothes and head back to the dorms.

The tiles were wet as we came into the locker room, and as always, clumsy Alek slipped and fell, landing and with the momentum sliding a few feet on the floor. I started laughing as he lay on the ground, writhing slightly. I had a daft idea and backed up a few steps and started forward and slid myself across the ground on my side and slid up to him, poking him in the forehead,

"How's the daft prince doing?" He groaned at my inquiry. at this I let out a bit of laughter and stood up, extending my hand to him, he grabbed it and got up, his face red from embarrassment.

"Let's just get our stuff and go to breakfast," he mumbled slightly. I started laughing again and I could see his ears burning.

As we were leaving, he looked longingly at the fencing area, _Of course the barking prince fences_. After this, he did as he always did, expressed excitement for the week that our gym course will be teaching it. He was like an energetic puppy, and his green eyes got a spark of pride. He would talk about how his uncle Volger coached him from a young age. He always talked about his uncle, but he made no mention of his parents, which seemed odd to me, whenever it came up he would act like he hadn't heard. I normally left it at that not wanting to make him uncomfortable, I can understand not wanting to talk about parents, my mum trying to make me all girly and stuff me in dresses, my aunts all disapproving of my decisions, especially when it comes to being a pilot and then, well, there's my Da….. I don't talk about it much with anyone, so needless to say, I get it.

* * *

The time was now Seven Forty and we were waiting in the Goethe building common room for NewKirk to meet us to go to breakfast. I had changed into a pair of pale caramel colored slim fits and a flannel that was mainly black, with white and brownish stripes that matched the pants and was easy on the eyes. Alek wore a pair of slim jeans and a maroon LSA T-Shirt. We both had our backpacks so we could start on the boatloads of homework that was assigned after breakfast in the courtyard outside. whenever I complained about it to Alek he smiled slightly and would say, "I didn't know 4 assignments that can be done in two hours to be considered a boatload." I would throw my arms up in the air and yell,

"You too!" It would normally take longer for me unless it was aeronautics, I would hyper focus on that. But on the other side of the spectrum, German would take ages to do, having to ask Alek for translations and arguing when he wouldn't just do the homework for me. I won most of the times, triumphantly cheering but regretting it when he is walking it through to me when completing it, making it take much longer than it needed to. Which isn't my fault for being difficult.

When Newkirk came out of the stairwell he looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and he probably did. His hair was nappy and flat on his head, and he was wearing simple sweat pants and a black T-shirt. He waved to us as we got up and made his way to us. We said our good mornings and he apologized for being late, again. I wanted to make another bet with Alek to win back some cash but he knew better than to bet on Newkirk's tardiness. Plus, we had all become better friends with Newkirk over the past few days, even though the middies and the "clankers" weren't supposed to get along. Newkirk and I mainly bonded in Aeronautics and our math class, while his and Alek's friendship was based on something else entirely. After the first week they both had found that they enjoyed the same video game, a game called Civilization V where you picked a country/ nation and well built a civilization. Their nerdiness also sucked me into the game and most weekends we went to Newkirk's dorm after dinner and played 'till the way past curfew. We could stay in our dorm but the connection is clart. Most weekends we played a World War One sim, Alek as Austria, _of course_ , Newkirk as Britain, and me as Scotland. It was no holds bar chaos, but the chaos brings us together.

Normally, Nikola Hall was empty Saturday mornings as people opted to stay in and sleep and just catch lunch, and today was no different.

We made our way down the near empty food lines and split off into separate ways. The amount of food they had was incredible. They had to feed many students of many different cultures, palate types, and lifestyles. Newkirk was off at a different food section every day wanting to try every single food by the end of the school year. _Maybe I should get him haggis from home and see what he thinks of that._ Usually, on the weekends, I would have a proper Scottish breakfast with eggs, beans on toast, and Lorne sausage, along with coffee. which it was my turn to buy today because I missed the alarm. At the far end of the lunchroom, costa had a small shop run by some students set up, for myself I would get a black coffee and then add tons of cream and sugar while, Alek got something called earl grey cream tea, with only a spot of honey and one sugar so as not to overpower the flavor. He didn't really like coffee, even though Vienna has some of the best coffee in Europe apparently.

I made my way out of the lunch lines and went up the stairs to the dining area to find Newkirk and Alek. They were already sat down. Newkirk was trying some type of steamed pork-filled bun called a baozi. Alek had his normal Saturday breakfast of a Semmel, a type of roll, with apricot jam, and to round it off, a few slices of ham and a boiled egg. They were in a heated debate about who would win the Civ game later. I set down Alek's tea and put my food down to eat. Alek thanked me and then started to get up with it.

"Where are you going?" I asked curiously as to why he was getting up. He looked a bit confused,

"I'm just gonna go put in the sugar and honey, as I normally do," he looked at me questioningly.

"Oh I had them put it in." he looked a bit surprised at this and I could almost feel the embarrassment.

"I guess you've been paying attention then," he said with a smile sitting down. _A little too much attention_ , I thought berating myself.

"Well, it's not hard when you order the same thing every day." He nodded and conceded my point.

"So I should remember to get you six creams and five sugars in yours?" I could feel my heart skip a beat and it wasn't due to the caffeine. _He nailed it exactly_.

" How did you...?" I managed to stammer out "it seems like you've also been paying attention." His daft smile breaking out on his daft face.

" Yea that or maybe you have six empty cream containers on the table and five sugars." I could feel my face heating up. Embarrassment, the daft feeling sucked.

* * *

The courtyard outside the Goethe building was wonderful for ignoring Alek's lessons in German. The grass was nice to lay in and the sun was still warm as the seasons were moving into autumn. When we had come out here the past week I normally drew the leaves and trees as Alek tried to coach me in German, droning on and on about how repetition and paying attention is key. Today he didn't really try. He was sitting on the bench under a now orange and gold tree. The sunlight filtering through catching his hair perfectly. Ignoring my advice to stop acting like a daftie I grabbed my sketch pad flipped past the trees, cracked out the Copic pens and began to draw. He was slightly hunched, one leg bent up on the bunch the other one flat to the ground. His white undershirt was poking out from his collar and the hem of his shirt in random places. His black jeans were scrunched up around the cuffs where they reached his shoes. His fiery hair was pushed back but still a few strands well forward into his face.

Alek stayed stoic like that, working on the lab report Barlow had given us due to their new job with her, for around an hour and a half. Whenever he focused on something, it got done no matter what, no breaks, no little procrastination temptations. Even though him procrastinating got him into the problem of working with a one track focus through not one of the day's assignments, it was a real skill. By the time he put down the science book and stretched I had finished the drawing, rather good of I do say so myself, the pens couldn't get the exact right light and shade of colors but it looked near perfectly like Alek. His ears were a bit rough to size.

During the drawing time I thought about what I was doing, _you're being daft, you're not going to let one …. Reasonably attractive boy get to you._ I responded to my inner dialogue, _I'm only drawing this because of artistic reasons_ , though I couldn't really convince myself of that. _So what if I have a slight crush._ At this point I was halfway finished with the drawing and realized it may be a tad more than slight, but I would just have to live with it.

Alek stood and picked up his bag and said over his shoulder, "We should probably go back to the dorm and get ready for Barlow's. I'm ready to be done with this report process. What'd you get done today?"

 _Oh, you know, just drew a very detailed picture of you, no biggie_. "Not much, I just drew." He laughed at that, as If he knew what I was going to way before I did. I packed up my bag but Alek decided to just carry his lab book and notes with him, his bag was full up of his other assignments he didn't have to bring out to work on but did anyway.

As we were walking back into Goethe, Fitzroy and his cronies walked out. We had been able to avoid them most of the time but things just weren't fated to go our way today. His goons were laughing their dumb laughs when Fitzroy sneered and flipped his arm up into Alek's books as we passed, scattering his laborious workmanship into the mud. He stared for a second as Fitzroy started to walk away laughing, I could see Alek's ears starting to redden with embarrassment and what I could only assume was rage. But before he could do anything and I could think of an appropriate response, I stepped forward and shoved him. Hard. He wasn't expecting it, Fitzroy tumbled to the ground ripping his jeans in one knee. He seemed shocked, his friends did, Alek did, and I felt shocked as well. I mean he deserved it, but I may have escalated things.

His friends rushed over to help him up. He pushed them off and glared at me and Alek who was picking up his papers off the ground. Fitzroy's face was red with anger, he spit on my shoe, he started walking towards me, but as he did a group of teachers who were leading the study groups in the common areas of the dorms walked out. Fitzy balked at this and stared me down and said the most cliché line I never thought I'd hear from a bully, "You're going to regret that Sharp!" and then he was off. I turned to Alek as he was getting back up with his now muddied papers.

"Thanks Dylan, but you didn't need to provoke him."

"I know but why do you let him treat you like that! He just can't keep getting away with treating you like clart!" Alek shrugged looking down at his papers.

"It's just how things are gonna happen, I'll figure it out, but again, thank you. You're an amazing friend." I could feel a small bloom in my chest at that and we continued to the dorm to get ready for the job with Barlow.

* * *

Work had finished and we were making our way down to try and make dinner. Alek looked bored and tired as he normally did after this. He was on ferret duty, watching the ferret that broke out of the cage on the first day. The ferret was pregnant with genetically altered babies from Dr. Barlow's work with CRISPR. He sat in the back room cleaning and organizing the files alphabetically as I fed all the pets which took a good hour and a half to fully complete. Then it was helping with experiments and being Guinea pigs for lesson plans for the last hour and a half we were there for, but during this time we went over them in the backroom watching over the ferret.

On our way to Nikola hall Newkirk texted me, **yo Dylan don't bother with the dining hall my roommate ordered a bunch of pizza and he has leftovers so we can launch into civilization**. I showed Alek the text, he started laughing but he looked grateful that there were fewer stops in the night.

We swung by our room, grabbing our laptops, then making our way over to Newkirks. When we got there, his room smelled like excess air freshener and all the windows were open. His roommate was passed out on his bed behind his privacy curtain, three boxes of pizza were on his nightstand.

"Hey guys sorry for the overpowering smell, my roommate was at it again." By at it again he meant that his roommate had gotten incredibly high, and we expected no less from him. He had a reputation around the school of being out of it ninety-five percent of the time, the other five percent was when he was selling to people, he was pretty well connected. Alek looked like he wanted to pompously upturn his nose and scowl in disgust, but as soon as he set up his laptop and had some food he looked like he could care less.

"It's all good Newkirk. My cousin Jaspert would do it all the time with his friends throughout high school." _Bloody, made the house smell like clart_. He nodded sheepishly. Newkirk wouldn't abide by his roomie's habit and had tried to be switched but all of the dorms were full. He had to deal but at least he had the best connection to the internet in the building. We all booted up and logged on and began the game.

We started at around six thirty, the time was now nine o'clock and Newkirk was on a warpath. Normally, Alek would have been able to win diplomatically at this point, but Newkirk had seen to the computer-based characters Alek allied with and had begun moving in on "Austria" which Alek had put little defense into. I had been knocked out an hour ago and was squeezing in next to Alek, to micromanage his game. He was frantically trying to push the foaming at the mouth Newkirk back. Normally it was a race to the finish between me and Alek but this time, we had caught late starts and Newkirk shot ahead. This was the closest he'd come to winning.

Needless to say, Newkirk won, but me helping Alek kept the game alive until eleven-thirty. In that time I noticed a few things; Alek is a pro at this game, Newkirk is also a force to be reckoned with, and not playing was drop dead boring, so much so that I dozed off on Alek's shoulder. He was too invested in the game to notice, so when I woke up in the throes of the last few turns of the game and realized what had happened I could feel my face go red and scooted away to pack up my things. Once the game had concluded and all of the electronics were stowed in our bags, Alek and Newkirk shook hands gave the complementary, "good game, good night" that the last two players did and we left.

The dorm hallways were dead quiet, granted we were out past curfew but at least we were in the building. I unlocked the door and entered the room, the now familiar smells of the dorm hit me, Alek and my deodorant, the detergent that the school used, a bit of Clorox for the spill that may or may not have been my fault and the attempted-to-be-hidden smell of shoes sprayed with air freshener. The small dorm felt like a home away from home now. The desks with sketches strewn about and German homework, the messy bed, and Aeronautic diagrams hanging on the wall. It was near perfection. I went off to the shower before Alek could call it.

I got out quick because I didn't want Alek to fall asleep before he had the chance to shower. I opened the door, changed into a baggy white undershirt and a pair of long flannel sleeping pants. I called out to Alek that the shower was all his but he didn't respond, he was off in his own world looking at something in his hands. I called again and he jolted a bit. He quickly put away what he was looking at, a nice picture frame with two people in it, a man and a woman in front of a cathedral in what looked to be casual clothes but like fancy casual, the lady had brown hair as did the man but It was streaked with grey and he had a bushy mustache. Alek closed the nightstand and walked into the bathroom.

As I laid in bed, I thought about what that picture could be, most likely one of his parents, _but why would he keep it put away?_ When Alek returned from the shower I almost asked but, I felt I would be invading his privacy. As I fell asleep that night all I could do was wonder, _what is going on with you Alek?_


	8. Chapter 8: Down to London

**Hello everyone I apologize for the very long wait, I started fixing up this chapter in October but I got buried with school work and college stuff, I mean hey I'm going to my number one so all the busy work was worth it, and I'd suggest if anyone is in junior or senior year, start early on your search but anyway back to the story, I hope you all enjoy this chapter its a long one, I have time on break so i'll try and get some stocked up before school starts again so I can upload semi-regularly. Happy late holidays. Enjoy.**

* * *

Finals were the worst, not really finals but like midterms, or well practice midterms that we had before the first break at the end of the first trimester. I pushed open the school buildings doors and made my way back to the Goethe building. The late November weather had already set in with the grass lightly frosted and crunchy, the trees laid bare of their leaves. It was just cold enough to have my breath clearly seen as I crossed to the Goethe building. By the time I reached the dorms my hands were shoved deep down into my pockets to try and preserve the little warmth I had left. I pushed open the doors with my foot and rushed in before they closed. The commons room was full with rosy-faced and joyous students crowded around the fireplace that I had always believed to be simply for show. One from my math class called me from across the commons to get some hot chocolate supplied by the Costa they had on campus. Of course, I had a cup, I had time to kill before Alek finished his Midterms for Mechanics. When I was done socializing and hearing other people's plans for their week long break I had drained two cups of hot chocolate and decided I would hold off on a third and save it for Alek, who only had another fifteen minutes until he would be back so I made my way to our room. I threw my bag on the bed and flopped down next to it, it felt weird getting ready to go home for a week, my bag was packed at the foot of my bed ready to go the morning after next, while Alek was staying the week. I checked my phone and went to hop in the shower.

Stepping out of the shower into the chilly air of the bathroom was harrowing. I went underneath the cabinet and grabbed the Ace bandages I kept in my shower bag and began to wrap up. Once that process was over I put on a pair of off-black jeans, a gray tank top undershirt, once that was on I turned to see if the wrap worked as well as I hoped it did. It kept everything pretty flush to my body but for a wrap job like this it was painful, especially since my body had decided to do some late blooming. Turning back to face the mirror I finished off the outfit with a maroon button up. I then began on fixing up my hair with a little bit of gel, Alek had brought it but the dafties hair fixed up perfectly without it. I envied that power. With my hair pushed up and combed back, and the excess gel used to flatten the short hair on the side I was ready for the night.

Tonight was a big night, it was a tradition that after midterms a good amount of students would sneak off campus unbeknownst to teachers, or we would like to think that and go down to London. The tradition had been going on even before Jaspert was here. Most of the students would use the night out to go to a cinema or a fancy place for dinner, maybe even a bit cheeky Nandos, and if you had cash or a fake, sneak into some music venues, maybe have a pint or two. Which was indeed my plan. I pushed open the bathroom door as Alek opened the dorm room door and he looked chilled to the bone. His teeth were still chattering and his cheeks were a dark pink, most of his hair was poking out from under his hat, most of it frazzles and curly, sticking up in random places. Most likely due to messing with it in annoyance at his final along with the wind on the walk back from the hanger. I walked over to my desk and picked up the third hot chocolate I snagged for him. The smile that spread across his face was so grateful that I couldn't help but laugh and feel a bit of warmth flush into my face.

"Honestly Dylan where would I be without you," he said as he graciously accepted the still steaming drink.

"Probably colder and lacking hot chocolate." he nodded in approval and started to unwrap himself, first the hat which left his hair more of a curly red mess that just made you want to run your hands through it and stop that thinking! He pulled off his scarf, jacket and sweater leaving him in a gray sweaty undershirt.

" How can you be that sweaty but at the same time cold?" Shrugging Alek opened his dresser looking for the appropriate clothes for later.

"Well under all of the layers your body gets hot but at the same time your face gets cold and loses heat making you sweaty and cold, I doubt you had that problem."

"Hmm sounds like you're jealous that I got to take my final inside." His face became a bit grumpier

"No, I'm not, I just don't know why we had to work outside when there is plenty of room inside to work on the blocks, and how come you all get nice heated classrooms!" He was getting all huffy and I was trying my hardest not to laugh. I walked over and pinched his red, freckly nose, he swatted my hand away as I said,

"Come on your daft prince, it builds character. Now hurry up and shower we have an hour till we need to be on the bus, you can complain all you want then." He walked off to the bathroom grumbling.

The plan for sneaking out was actually brilliant in its simplicity. You can't go out through the main gates obviously and its private property so there's a fence lining the perimeter about fifteen feet high, but part of the campus is forested off to the side of the runway. That was where everyone meets before sliding through a hole in the fence. No matter how many new fences were put in over the many years it always came back, teenagers were teenagers that never changed throughout the ages I guess. There was a bus that waited on the road, a two-minute walk from the hole to the road and the bus would depart at seven thirty on the dot. Alek and I made it a point to tell Newkirk that it was six thirty so we could avoid being late. After Alek was ready we bundled up and made our way to find Newkirk and brave the frigid outdoors.

* * *

The lack of students at the bus was surprising when we finally made our way. It seems this wasn't the most rebellious generation. only about twenty-nine students, Alek and I had expected more out of the class of six hundred plus students. The drive wasn't that bad from LSA to London only about twenty minutes due to the lack of traffic once we go to the city and made our way to Piccadilly circus. During the ride, Newkirk and I discussed our aeronautics midterm and compared answers we remembered as Alek put his head down preparing for the late night ahead of them. The bus was full of the hum of conversation, people discussing what they were doing that night, seeing a girlfriend, catching a film, a fancy dinner or getting properly smashed. There was also the anticipation of when we would receive the pairings for the final project. Alek and I had submitted our forms two weeks ago to make sure we got on the same team and Newkirk who lost the sheet after getting it finally got a copy and turned it in a day after the due date.

There was a shout from the front of the bus, more of a 'whoop' really. It was enough to wake the sleeping ginger who let out a confused string of German, which I could roughly translate meant "are we there yet." I shook my head and leaned out from my seat to find out what was going on, the buzz of conversation had become electric with excitement, I tapped on the kid in front of me on the shoulder.

"What's going on?" He lifted up his phone in what was meant to be an answer but when met with my questioning look responded,

"The pairings were just emailed!" I sat back into my seat, Alek still in his groggy stupor asked,

"Was ist los?" in reaction to German the tutoring must have kicked in because I responded in kind but butcher the pronunciation.

"Pairing-Liste veröffentlicht." [What is it/pairing list released]

He smiled slightly at the German and began laughing as I struggled through pronouncing "veröffentlicht".

"I think you may need more tutoring to perfect it but it's a tough language and you have made leaps and bounds, but I think that's due to your amazing teacher." I punched his shoulder.

"Get stuffed Dummkopf." But I couldn't keep down the prideful smile that broke out on my face. I pulled out my phone and opened up my email and forwarded the list to Alek. "Well, it seems that the gang is sticking together." We all exchanged high fives and turned to look out the window to see Piccadilly circus, the time square of London.

The drive in was easy due to the lack of traffic but now the city was bustling, eight o'clock on a Friday was a hot time. The bus dropped us at Apollo theater. many people branched off from there but I lead Newkirk and Alek down the busy streets of Piccadilly towards the club Jaspert works at. It took us about ten minutes and three wrong turns into some seedy alleys but I managed to find the pink neon sign of The Pipeline, a rock and roll club on Middlesex street.

"Alright guys wait out here I'm going to go find my cousin, he'll let us in. So once he says yes I'll send you a text to head around back." Newkirk nodded and Alek did as well but looked less sure as Newkirk. . Probably the first time he's really broken the rules the barking prince. I pushed through the doors into the club. There was a major line for some band that was headlining that night. I ducked past the ID check and made my way past the pinball and game machines and into the office where the workers took breaks. The room was pretty plain, a few chairs and tables and my brother stretched out on one of them taking a break before going to work the bar till 4:00 in the morning. I got up really close to his ears and yelled,

"Hey, Jas! No sleeping on the Job!" He jerked up and frantically looked around only to see me trying not to lose my clart laughing.

"Christ Deryn, what're you doing here?" He rubbed his hands through his blond crew cut down his face and checked his watch.

"Oh, nothing much just hoping you could let me and my friends in for the show and maybe a few drinks?"

"Absolutely not." His answer stopped me right in my tracks. I was not expecting that

"Why not, clart face?"

"Well maybe being rude isn't going to help," he got up and straightened his clothes, "Also, I'm not going to let my little sister booze around with her friends. If mom finds out..."

"Now stop right there, I'm only two years younger than you. Plus, when was the last time you talked to ma since joining the RAF, and for the record, right now I'm not your sister, I'm your cousin who is a guy, my friends don't know so you don't need to worry." He threw up his arms exasperated, but out of excuses.

"Come on Deryn make this easy on me. I can't have anything happen to you, I'd never hear the end of it!"

"My friends are good people, plus Alek probably isn't going to have anything. He's trustworthy and my roommate."

"Ah is this the famous Alek Haagen-Dazs you're always going on and on about?" I need to start keeping my mouth shut. "Fine, on the conditions that I can cut you off anytime and that you pay full price, with tip for your down on his luck military cousin, and finally you leave no later than 12:30."

"It's Hohenberg, for your information, and I'm not paying you tip"

"Sorry to insult his royal highness, plus I'm pretty sure your boyfriend's last name was Haagen-Dazs. Anyway no tip, no entry. Come on, I'll open the back."

I could feel my face getting redder at his accusations, "He's not my -!"

"Yea, yea calm down sis, plus your face is almost as red as your shirt so I feel like I might be right." With that he left the room and headed for the back and I texted Alek, We're in.

Jaspert propped the back door open with a trash bin and lit a cigarette while we waited. It took about two minutes till Alek and Newkirk showed up. Jaspert threw out his cigarette and reached out to shake their hands,

"You must be Newkirk," Newkirk nodded and Jaspert was then shaking Alek's hand, "You must be Haagen-Dazs," Jaspert shot me a look and he did a mock bow, "Nice to meet you, your highness" Alek looked confused and looked at me with an expression that read quite like 'What's going on'

"Ah yes, I am the Haagen-Dazs? I see my reputation has preceded me, you are Dylan's cousin correct?"

"That I am. Now let's hurry it up I'm freezing my bum off out here." We threw our coats in the breakroom and were led past the ID check, all that was needed was a nod and a handshake from Jaspert to get us in and we made our way down the stairs. The lower club was hazy and crowded and much hotter than it was outside, Jaspert slid himself behind the bar and got to tending

"Hey, coz, can we get three Misirlou shooters and an old fashioned, anything for you two." In the low neon lights of the club, it was hard to see their expressions, Newkirk looked excited but adamant, while Alek looked positively overwhelmed. Jaspert put down the drinks and gave me a hard look and leaned over the bar and growled at me,

"Better be a big tip bumrag." I rolled my eyes and slapped a few notes down onto the table. I leaned over to Alek.

"Are you okay you look like you're halfway to fainting." He looked a bit overwhelmed at first and he tried saying something but the music kept blocking him out and I kept getting distracted by how the neon lights highlighted his sharp features and gave his eyes a different look. Suddenly I felt a jolt as he pushed himself forward next to my ear and said what he had been trying to get out.

"I am okay, just overwhelmed is all I'm not used to this "teenage rebellion". I don't think I'll partake in anything but that small one you bought, I'll be the designated driver so to speak." With this, I couldn't help but laugh. I reached over and mussed his hair in the way of a noogie.

"It's not rebellion daftie, it's just having a good time. Now come on, let's kick this night off," I nodded to Newkirk and we all grabbed our shooters, "Now remember, it's cheers, knock, and then, knock them back." We all clinked glasses and knocked them against the bar, I held mine and watched Alek take his shot, He immediately started coughing, Newkirk swallowed his without much trouble. Laughing, I nodded to Jaspert who was rolling his eyes and trying to hold back laughter while serving other customers, Well, bottoms up.

* * *

12:00

Newkirk had left an hour earlier to get a ride back to the dorms with his roommate, who was running pickups for most of the people that night. Alek and I cleared out when the next band came in with some new synthetic punk. We grabbed our coats and headed out into the chilly London night. The next hour was fuzzy as I swerved around the sidewalk and Alek tried to keep me on course, I kept bumping into him and giggling, giggling! He must think I'm some kind of floozy, I just need to keep my cover and quit the girly giggles every time we touch. Sadly, the alcohol wasn't going to help on that front as I had lost my filter during the first band's second set. Swaying into Alek I managed to slur out something that might unleash a flood,

"Aye you're princely-ness, you're a goood friend and I like youoooo." sparing me from the awkwardness of the last words was my slurring Scottish lilt and the attempt I made at poking his nose which had a big freckle right at the tip of it, he swatted the assaulting finger away thinking I was going to pinch it again.

"Thank you, Dylan, I'm glad you think that and you are a great friend to me as well, but we should probably get us a ride home." I swayed myself away from him and swung in a circle trailing my arm around a light post.

"Oh come onnnnn Alek, you're a party popper…" With that, I started to flop forward. Alek sprung forward and caught me in his arms that once were lanky and were now well-toned, and I found my face pressed into his scarf as he was hoisting me up and what I smelled almost made my knees turn to jelly, it had the scent of cigarette smoke from the bar but underneath was the smell of engine grease, hair product, and Alek's natural smell of cinnamon with an undertone of muskiness. He sat me down on a bench and started flagging down a Cabbie. Luckily, a restaurant manager was closing shop and saw Alek's fruitless plight to get a cab at one twenty in the morning, he told Alek that he and I could sit inside while he called a cab for us. The warmth was refreshing but the alcohol clogging my mind only wanted to be wrapped up with Alek and his scarf, without meaning to I groaned and set my head town on the table. Alek sat down next to me and started rubbing my back.

"What am I going to do with you, Dylan?" He said laughing slightly, I sat back up pouting slightly and pushed my finger up to his face missing his lips and poking the tip of his nose.

"My name, not Dylan, it's a sooooo do nym[pseudonym]," What am I doing stop talking! "my real name is Deryn." Why would I do that, what is wrong with me.

"That makes sense, Dylan makes sense as a nickname, but Deryn is a pretty cool name I'm sure some of those girls at the club would have found it dashing." He said that last part laughing, a few girls had come up to me to try and buy me drinks but I had refused. Thank god, he thinks it's just a name, not an entire gender hidden from him, I need to shut my big mouth.

It was now one fifty and with a lot of convincing the cab driver dropped us off on the dark stretch of road that led back to the hole in the fence. By this time, I had almost revealed my secret solely through all of my high-pitched giggling, I had said the friend thing again multiple times but anything that was overly weird was shrugged off due to me being drunk. Maneuvering through the forest was tough enough in the dark but I was tripping over way more things until I ran into the fence and fell back onto my bum. I started to laugh hysterically as Alek started to look me over and question for injuries. In answer to his questions, I crawled through the hole in the fence and plopped myself down on a fallen tree. Alek made his way though and saw me slumped over onto the tree.

"Come on Dylan, get up. We need to get back to the dorm."

" My feet hurt, I'll sleep here." I crossed my arms and huddled into myself. Come on Deryn you're being a difficult bumrag just get up. Alek let out an exasperated sigh.

" How about I carry you?" No

"Yes" I put my arms out and he scooped me up like I weighed nothing. No this needs to stop I can walk put me down before I do something stupid like- my next thoughts were interrupted as I put my face into his scarf and inhaled, I relaxed and felt myself drifting off as Alek made his way back to our dorm.

* * *

Oh god, my head... Cracking open my eyes was another challenge as the light increased my headache. I propped myself up in bed the speed of the movement sends my head throbbing. I fell backward into my pillow and looked at my clock, it was ten fifteen and a note was propped against my clock. Picking myself back up slower this time I snatched the note away from my clock and propped myself up with an elbow.

 **Hey, Dylan. It's ten o'clock I'm going to go workout for the normal time, I'll meet you by the lunchroom at eleven thirty, shoot me a text that you're up so I know whether or not to come wake you up**.

I smiled slightly as I texted him and then grimaced as I twisted my head a bit too quickly and put my hands up to my face as the events of last night came flooding back,

"What the hell was I thinking, AGH!" I threw my phone across the room onto my open travel bag. I pulled off my covers and grabbed a set of clothes, and quickly jotted a note for if Alek came back for a change of clothes and I wasn't here.

 **I'm down at the lunch room meet you there**

I stumbled my way into the bathroom and turned the hot water on full blast, I didn't hear my phone buzz, with the message, " **message could not send**."

The heat of the water helped clear a bit more of the hangover away. I regretted my decision to drink and I regret the fact that I think I should have listened to Jaspert. Which I will never admit aloud, ever. I shut off the shower and hopped out into cold air started drying off. I threw some boy shorts on and got my binding stuff out from my shower kit and set it on the counter. I then began digging around for some Advil. Triumphant I found a full bottle and swallowed two pills and stood looking in the mirror waiting for them to take effect, I ran my hands through my hair lost in thought, _Ma, and my aunties are gonna have another fit when they see my hair_. I sighed, I opened up one of the drawers and tossed the hair gel into my open shower bag for use when I was at home and went to begin binding.

Suddenly the bathroom door swung open, startling me into tossing the binding in the air and I went scrambling for a towel. I turned pulling it up to my chest to see Alek standing in the door frame trying to stutter out an apology.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't get a text and I found your note and assumed you weren't here. I'm sorry," he was starting to back out of the room when he saw the bandages that I used as binding when he started to look concerned. "Are you okay? Are you injured or anything?" At this point, I regained control of my heart which had jumped to my throat

"Out!" I tried to keep my volume controlled but it seemed to come out as a high pitched shriek. Alek didn't seem like he was starting to move so I yelled again and he snapped out of his trance and shut the door apologizing profusely. I ran over and locked the door, I pushed my back against it and slid down the towel pooling in my lap. I put my hands on either temple my headache had increased tenfold and I began trying to breathe properly and stop hyperventilating. This is a mess everything has gone wrong, oh god why did this have to happen, why, why, why me. It took me five minutes to get up and go back to wrapping up myself. It took me another twenty minutes to gain enough courage to open the door.

Alek was waiting on his bed his face red from embarrassment and when he saw me he stood up and began to apologize and I just help my hand up for him to stop, ending the stream of sorry's. I couldn't meet his eyes as I asked,

"How much did you see?" He looked a bit confused but after trying to find the right words he seemed to understand and his face seemed to grow redder.

"I well... I um... I guess I saw your chest… are you injured you were covering yourself and there were bandages are you okay?" I held up my hand again to quiet him. He's giving me an out, I need to take it, but he needs to know at some point, just because he knows you're a girl doesn't immediately mean he's going to have a crush on you. I debated mentally for what felt like hours but was mere seconds.

" No, Alek, I'm not injured, but what you saw and what I'm about to tell you stays between us." He nodded still worried but as if something had dawned on him. He must already have figure out. "Alek, I'm a girl, I disguised myself to sneak into LSA. I didn't mean to deceive you; I mean I wanted to tell you. I really did, but I just- "Alek cut me off.

" Deryn," I sat back dumb struck, "Your name is Deryn." I nodded my head in confirmation.

He looked like he was considering the information given to him. His eyebrows drawn together. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, harder and harder as the seconds passed. " So you've been hiding your secret with ace bandages and keeping to yourself, I guess it probably would have taken longer to tell me if I hadn't walked in." I couldn't find an answer and gaped fish mouthed. He sounded hurt with the last accusation. His face scrunched up in thought, he looked mad, or frustrated, at himself or me, I couldn't tell. He stood up from the bed nodding to himself lost in thought his face still scrunched up. His face grew a tinge redder, he turned on his heel walked out the dorm room.

"Alek I-" My heart skipped a beat as the door slammed shut and I could feel the heat rushing to my face as my vision got blurry. My headache had increased to a splitting pain despite the Advil. I could feel tears coming and before I knew it I was face down on my bed, wishing that I hadn't just lost my best friend.

Alek didn't come back for about six hours and in that time, my headache went away as did the tears but they were replaced by dread. Dread that I had lost my best friend and a hopeless feeling that I had ruined any chance that I had of fixing the divide and lost my chance to try and get closer to Alek. I hated feeling like a lovesick school girl swooning at a dopey smile and unknowing flirt, but I would do anything to get it back and replace this heaviness I was feeling. I raged around the dorm room, telling myself to forget Alek he's just another guy who isn't worth my time, swearing in German and messing up his side of the room, I wasn't angry at him. I was just angry that his reaction wasn't like I had hoped.

Newkirk brought me food because I missed lunch, I ate it angrily and went about fixing up his side of the room and once I was finished, I sat on my bed hoping for and dreading Alek's return. It was dark outside by the time he got back, wrapped up in his scarf and hat his hair all frazzled and curly. He switched on the lights and closed the door. I sat up in bed and he threw his winter clothes on the dresser at the foot of his bed. Things remained silent for a few minutes. Alek cleared his throat and as he did an apology burst from my lips and I stood up fully facing him.

"Dylan I. Err Deryn, you don't have to apologize. My reaction wasn't handled," he seemed to be looking for a word, "properly." He ran his hand through his hair messing it up more than it already was. "It was a lot to take in." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"But I… you… I thought you were mad?"

"I was very mad at first, I felt betrayed, like the person I called my friend, never was who I thought they were." I felt a small knife in my gut when he said that, "But it was mainly due to the shock of it all. I was mad that I couldn't stand up to Fitzroy and that you had been fighting all my battles for me. I needed time to think about our friendship is all, and see if it changed anything and it took me time." I could feel a small glimmer of hope beginning to form.

"What did you decide?" The moment of truth. He took a few moments to figure out what to say.

"I decided that it doesn't change anything, you're still my best friend, the only thing that's different is that you're a girl dressed as a boy and now I can help cover for you if there's ever a need for it." A smile broke out across my face and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I thought I ruined everything." His smile turned down slightly,

"I'm sorry Deryn. I was very caught up in my own thought I didn't think how you felt, I apologize."

"There's no need, it was a barking terrible situation. What you felt was valid and I'm just glad I don't have to room with someone who doesn't like me."

He laughed at this and walked over to his dresser where his coat was and started digging around in his pockets, "I had a good friend of Austria who was transgendered and they always told me the health problems bandages as bindings could cause so I spent most of the afternoon finding you this." His face gained a slightly reddish appearance as he held out two wide strips of white material. He didn't

" Are those...?" he coughed slightly and nodded,

"Yea I got the adjustable binder Err… because I didn't think it appropriate to ask you." It was all too much, the kindness and thoughtfulness of his gift, the joy that I hadn't lost him as a friend, and I could feel tears starting to come again and I walked across the room and pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you Alek, this means the world to me." He put his arms around me in a return hug and nodded along and responded, "It was no problem." I pulled back from the hug slightly, he was warm and he smelled more of a must than of cinnamon.

As I pulled back I realized we were looking into each other's eyes now, normally I was taller but he had shot up in the past few months, his bright green eyes, pools of verdant light shining back at me with kindness, I could feel a tug in my chest, one that feels like a punch to the chest but in a way that it floods you with a comfortable yet uncomfortable warmth, its pull is almost physical. It was what caused me to do what I did next, I leaned back in.

I'm sure I surprised myself as much as I surprised him, I had been waiting for the right time to do this for so long. For me it wasn't new, being impulsive and starting something bigger than what was our new friendship where he knew who I was and wasn't mad that I was a girl the whole time. Even so he knew I was impulsive but he could have never anticipated it, he had told me that he didn't have many friends or girls who were friends back in Austria so no one had ever been this forward in an action, he just wasn't used to it so at first he froze a bit but after a bit he accustomed himself and answered in kind.

"Alek, can I ask about your parents" he froze, it may have been too much too soon, he knew my secret and he could trust me with his.

"I-Uh, do you really want to know?"


	9. Chapter 9: home

**Hello, no this story isn't dead I just got very caught up with the back half of senior year, triathlon training, getting ready for college, college and swim team, I will keep this story going I'm sure this will be a shock to those of you following to see this little notification pop up after a year and some change, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **~*Years Ago*~**

My Father Francis Ferdinand Hohenberg and my mother Sophia Chotek Hohenberg, they were diplomats in the Austrian Government. Sophia Hohenberg was part of the Austrian national council, and Francis Hohenberg was the Vice Chancellor of Austria. Ever since Serbia broke from the Austrian empire there have been hostilities between the two and after Serbia attacked Bosnia a rebellious sect formed and wanted to reclaim "lost territory" from Austria. Fast forward a to recent years and the border disputes and fighting had reached a fever pitch. Vice Chancellor Francis Hohenberg took it upon himself to meet with the Serbian Prime minister to discuss the increasing attacks and conflicts. My mother came along on the trip to add more diplomatic pressure. The talks turned quickly to peace under the vice chancellor's guidance and willingness from the Serbian prime minister to remove the rebels from military strength. after a brutal bombing campaign, had left many Serbians and Austrians dead the Serbian government was ready for peace. Leaving successfully from peace talks the two diplomats were stopping for a routine check at a border crossing back into Austria. The Serbian rebels had learned that two high ranking diplomats were in the country and decided it wasn't an opportunity that they could miss. They detonated a bomb at the checkpoint and surrounded the car in a surprise attack. No one was left alive. Both countries leaders were horrified and met at the United Nations to discuss a future of peace and prosperity in which the countries worked together and not against the others. The ratification of the Hohenberg accords came three months after they died, and are still in place today.

Since I was eleven my uncle Ernst Volger has been raising me, and once I turned 17 I applied to LSA and here I am.

Sitting on the bed next to him I was stunned. He had tears in his eyes and were looking off to the drawer by the side of his bed where he kept what I assumed was the photo of his parents. In the silence, all I could do was raise my hand to his shoulder. It brought a sad smile to his face as he turned to me.

"Alek, I'm so sorry, I know how hard it is to lose a parent, but I cannot fathom what it would be like to lose both," At the mention of me losing a parent his face turned from that sad smile to a mix between concern and sadness that I may have experienced a lose like this. "It was My da." Alek nodded in understanding and brought his hand opposite the shoulder my hand occupied up to it and placed it on top of my hand. He looked like he was about to say something, a condolence maybe but I interrupted his unspoken words.

"It was a ballooning accident, Me and him were going to go up in his balloon when something caught fire as we started to ascend. The next thing I knew my Da pushed me out of the balloon and it broke free of the mooring line, all of the heat caused the balloon to rocket skywards." At this point we both had tears slowly leaking out of our eyes. He gave my hand a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry Deryn." I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Aye, me too" He shifted my hand off his shoulder and brought it around me and pulled me into a quick side hug. As we separated Alek nodded and turned giving a slight smile, and despite the emotional day it still warmed my heart. _Everything Is going to turn out alright, He knows the truth and there aren't any secrets._

Comfortable silence followed which was quickly broken by the loud rumbling of an unfed stomach. I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing, the timing was perfect, if not inappropriate after the recent conversation but it still broke the sad atmosphere, as Alek started to laugh as well.

"I guess I didn't really eat when I was out earlier." I stood from the bed and extended a hand, which he took and hoisted himself off the bed.  
"Well then we better hurry the dining hall is gonna close soon." He nodded and went to put on his shoes. I grabbed my dorm keys off my desk and took my coat and phone out of my open travel bag. That was when I realized, "so that is why you aren't going anywhere for break." Alek stood and swung his coat around his shoulders.  
"Yea, Volger isn't the nicest of people to spend a holiday with. He is a rather condescending fellow." I laughed at this.

"I mean with a name like Volger you probably aren't the most charming person." But then an idea struck me as we were leaving the dorm.

"Are you going back to Austria for Christmas?" He shook his head no. "Well," I began the framework of a plan began laying itself out in my mind. "Since it is too late to fill out the liability and permission forms then you can't travel with me to Scotland for Thanksgiving, but you are going to come celebrate Christmas in Scotland with the Sharps. No one deserves to spend Christmas cooped up in a dorm room." Alek turned back about to protest as he held the stairwell door open to me.

"That is final, you will not be imposing, so don't try and get out of it you bloody clanker." He chuckled at that.

"Well I appreciate the offer and accept even though it seems I have no choice, but you were quite rude near the end." I laughed and with that he started laughing.

"Well, either you come with me, or I'm staying here with you, no matter what, no one deserves to be alone." _Especially you_. We pushed our way out into the cold of this Pre-winter frost.

"Also, Alek, thank you for trusting me with the stuff about your parents." He turned to me a slight smile on his face.  
"It was good to talk about it, and again I'm sorry about how I reacted earlier, it was uncalled for, I should be thanking you for staying my friend." Smiling I responded,

"No problem your daft prince, but let's agree no more mind-blowing secrets between us." He looked determined as he agreed whole heartedly. He stuck out his and I grabbed it and we shook, to honesty, and then went and almost missed getting dinner.

Despite waking up early Sunday morning with a pillow being thrown at me, it was considerably better than waking up with a head splitting hangover. My flight back to Scotland for thanksgiving holiday was in three hours at Heathrow. We don't celebrate it, but the American students do, which allowed an excuse for a trimester system to have three breaks making it easier for planning for the school.

Pulling the thrown pillow off my head I threw it back blindly towards where I thought Alek might be. I heard a loud clanging and a loudly exclaimed "GAH" as my pillow hit the tin coffee pot on Aleks dresser onto the floor. I opened my eyes and propped myself up on one arm to see Alek scooping loose change back into the pot, he was dressed in a ratty t shirt covered by a purple LSA sweatshirt, and grey jogging bottoms. Turning slightly, I looked at the clock which displayed almost to brightly for my sleep filled eyes **6:45**. Groaning I swung my feet out of my bed and sat up slumped forward slightly.

"To early for you sleepy head?" I straightened up my back and stretched.

"Not in the slightest your princeliness, just not looking forward to another flight on Huxley air, I bet our final project will be more flyable than their planes."

"I doubt we could build something that can fly and hundreds of miles per hour in a school's hanger, but I mean with confidence anything is possible." I nodded at this and stood leaving behind my last vestiges of sleep. I grabbed my pile of clothes next to my travel bag which I had set out the previous night. A pair of blue jeans, boy shorts, converse, a red LSA shirt, a tan and black flannel and to top it off one of the binders Alek had gotten after he stormed out. I made my way into the bathroom and began to change and fix up my hair from the treatment sleeping gave it, dry shampoo and a small bit of gel to smooth down the sides and push the top back into place and get the random bits of hair sticking out randomly back in line.

After changing the difference between the binder and the bandages was incredibly noticeable, the usually uncomfortable uneven squeezing was replaced by a slight pressure and now I won't have to worry about the bandage becoming untucked. The binder kept everything flush to my chest without the unnecessary pain. I pulled on the flannel and exited the bathroom. Alek was sitting on his bed reading a book assigned by Barlow to help him with animal care because he was not well versed in how to hold certain animals such was the case with a chinchilla he almost picked up like a rat. He got a forty-five-minute lecture on floating ribcages and three extra book assignments.

"How's the reading going?" Alek put his book down and the look he gave me was nothing short of annoyed.

"It's interesting enough but its overkill, one little mistake leads to over 5,000 words of reading and assignments," He looked at the clock and back to me. "You ready to go?" I turned to the clock to see the time **7:00**. The busses chartering students to the airport left at seven twenty

"You shouldn't have been such a dummkopf then, and yea let's go." I picked up my travel bag and a bag of toiletries from the bathroom and was out the door with Alek making my way to the main gate. At the dorms entrance we said our farewells for the week to come. Promising to text and to continue the Civ game we had started.

"Well I'll see you in a week, Mister Sharp." Then with a wink he turned and walked off. Despite no one being around and the fact no one would be able to understand the insinuation he made it still got my blood to boil. _The audacity of that Barking Prince._ Before turning to go the main gate, I shouted after him

"Dummkopf!" as fast as I was walking I could still hear his laugh at my response. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, two quick buzzes, _Alek._ I ignored it, and found my way onto the busses and sat in the front seat.

On the way to Heathrow airport I begrudgingly checked the text he sent. **I apologize I thought it would be funny I was obviously wrong.** I sighed, setting my phone back down, _such a formal text no wonder it takes so long for him to ever respond._ The rest of the ride passed slowly, texting Alek and Newkirk a bit, Alek could respond to the texts until he got to the pool. He wished me a safe trip and went radio silence. There was a bit of commotion on the back of the bus as Fitzroy and his cronies were acting up. It was good that Fitzroy was leaving for thanksgiving break so that he wasn't on campus with Alek without myself around. It's stupid, Alek can handle his battles himself, he's not a damsel in distress, _well he may not be a damsel but every prince charming needs rescuing sometimes. I did not just compare him to prince charming._ I don't want to be some girl twisting her skirts every time we talked but it's hard to deny that I have fallen for him, and now he knows my secret, so anything goes ... My thoughts were abruptly halted as the bus stopped and it was time to get off.

I pushed up and into the hallway of the bus and bumped Fitzroy as he walked by smirking at him. Either he didn't notice or didn't care he had a flight to catch and so did I.

Compared to the rush and the lines at the airport when I left Scotland this morning at the airport was a breeze, excess time to take it not necessarily slow but not in a rush either. The lines weren't long at Heathrow despite it being a Sunday morning at an international airport. By the time I was past the security check and at the gate I had an hour until they started to call for boarding. Leaving my stuff on an empty chair that I could keep my eye on I walked to a Costa nearby my terminal and bought a coffee and returned to my stuff. While boarding I received multiple texts from Alek about how much he didn't want to work with Barlow while I was gone due to the Doctors… Favoritism. The Intercom started up calling for electronics to be put into airplane mode as we were clear for departure to Glasgow.

* * *

Unlike the first flight flying out to London there was hardly any turbulence flying back to Scotland. Landing was simple and so was departing but now the real turbulence begins. I found the girls bathroom and locked myself in a stall. Pulling open my suit case I removed from it a uniform for the school minotaur prep school, an all-girls school in London, where my mother and aunties think I am attending. A quick change into different clothes left me feeling strange and out of place, _please let the trip home be fast so I can change_. Stepping out of the stall the clothes I left leviathan in stuffed into my bag.

I stepped outside into the brisk November air of Glasgow, looking around the outside terminal to find a taxi was quite simple and to just take a taxi would have been so much simpler but there with a bloody smirk a mile wide was Jaspert Sharp standing next to ma's car. _What the hell is he doing here._ Tugging my skirt down to try and cover my knees I walked forward and almost spat at Jaspert,

"Why are you here?" He looked somewhat taken a back.

"Jeez what did you and Alek break up? Come on sis I thought I'd be nice and pick you up from the airport."

"We aren't even dating, and you know that!" He smiled wider,

"So defensive, you should get in the car, cause the wind is turning you bright red... or is it that ginger kid." He hopped out of the way of my fist as I swung at him and hopped in the car closing the door, I opened the back door and stepped in not wanting to sit shot gun to him.

Arriving home was surreal, returning home to a place I haven't lived in many months should be normal, but it wasn't it felt alien in a strange way. Jaspert retrieved my suitcase from the trunk and I took a photo of the place I called home and sent it to Alek with the caption _This is how us peasants live._ My house was in no way a peasant's home I just couldn't miss a chance to tease Alek. Moving from the car up the drive to the door led to a lot of anxiety, what if they found out about my schooling at leviathan instead of minotaur, and suddenly all thoughts of that were swept from my head as I crossed the threshold into my home. The smell of ma's cooking invaded my senses and being home felt normal again it felt real. This was not a 12 by 19-foot cube that smelled of deodorants and faintly masked gym shoes, I picked up my pace and entered my kitchen to see my mom at the counter putting together haggis, neaps and tatties, for a late dinner before a supper out tonight. My aunties were sitting at the kitchen table laughing and talking as my mom worked. My mother stopped as I walked in and pulled me into a hug for a quick reunion before she pulled away and asked where all my letters to home went to. My face went red and my aunties all had a good laugh.

* * *

It was late when I returned to my room, full of goof Scottish foods and a relief that comes with being in your own space. I looked around my bare room to see all my old drawings of zeppelins, airplanes, jets and other flying contraptions. Art journals covered my bookshelves and my bed was made. Most of the plants on the three windowsills in my room were dead. _I always forgot about those, maybe I will let my mom into my room when I'm gone this time._ I put my suitcase onto my bed and sat down taking it all in. I looked out of my window onto the plot of land our house sat on. The trees bare from the winter winds and the ground snowy and white. My Da's shed on the back of the property stood solitary and in disrepair. In an instant the nice feeling of being home was shaken away, memories of my da flooded me, and I sat back in bed. _This is going to be a long night_.

Somewhere around 12 I got back to Aleks texts he sent during the day about how the ferret was doing and how it was very close to the end of the pregnancy. Alek was worried, _what's new,_ that when Dr. Barlow left for the next few days the baby would be born, and he would be entirely unprepared. By the time of my response Alek was most likely sleeping after his long day of watching a pregnant ferret, very exhausting indeed.

I had been tossing and turning for hours into the night and decided it was one of those times. I slid out of bed and walked barefoot out into the second-floor hallway to the trapdoor that lead to the attic, I pulled it down quietly and made my way up. The attic was dusty dark and relatively cold, but it held most of father's possessions that mother couldn't bear to see anymore. On nights like these I would always come up here and sit in my father's armchair and I would finally find sleep, but tonight's routine went slightly differently. Instead of going right to sleep I debated for the longest time calling Alek. I wanted to talk but it was so late. In the end I did call him to a tired and confused response with a lot of, "What's wrong?" and "Is everything okay" after assuring him everything was fine, I started talking with him about my dad and all the stories he told her as a kid as Alek listened on either asleep or so attentive he didn't make any noise, either way it wouldn't have mattered in some form he was there and she was able to talk, an option unavailable for the longest time.


End file.
